Day 1- Little Rock
Leaving San Francisco, I knew a 12-day tour of the New Madrid Fault area would be a personal learning experience. Self enrichment aside, to reach just one individual and truly open his eyes to the earthquake risk at hand, persuading a few that preparedness is a “now” and a “must” would be a success.
The City of Little Rock, my first stop along a six-city tour of the New Madrid Fault area, was hot, lovely and fascinating.
On Monday, July 17, a small but impassioned group of us met at the Pulaski Regional Center in downtown Little Rock in the opening salvo of my ProtectingAmerica.org tour.
They (pictured below) included Daniel Cicirello, Chair of the Governor’s Earthquake Council, Frank Allison, Structural Engineer with Engineering Consultants, Jeffrey Connelly, Department of Earth Sciences at UALR, Tony Evans, Maintenance Engineer with Dept. of Highways and Transportation, Scott Ausbrooks, Geologist with the Arkansas Geological Commission, Jim Wilkinson, Executive Director of the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium. Mr. Wilkinson is the chief earthquake preparedness voice for eight states in the Midwest and Midsouth, and drove from Memphis just to join us.
What was most surprising to me was the openness, urgency and candidness of the group. Geologists Ausbrooks and Connelly were very impassioned in their belief that greater studies had to be done in order to understand the very complex New Madrid Fault System.
The New Madrid Fault, they explained, is a different kind of fault from the infamous San Andreas in California, which caused the 1906 disaster. New Madrid is an “intraplate” fault, which means it is centered in the North American plate, and much harder to observe and measure than the great San Andreas.
In the winter of 1811, three major earthquakes struck the region, centered between Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. The first occurred on Dec. 16, the second on January 23, the third on Feb. 7. Each earthquake increased in intensity, until the granddaddy of the three exceeded the magnitude of the 1906 earthquake, likely registering a whopping 8.1 on the yet-to-be-invented Richter scale.
The earth shook for four months, and was felt as far as Washington D.C, Boston and Cuba. More than 1.5 million square miles of American soil felt the tremor, ten times the area set in motion by the 1906 earthquake. For a time, the Mississippi River ran backward. Sand “geysers” opened in the earth, shooting rocks, soil and debris into the sky, some of the fissures 100 feet in diameter, with columns of debris 100 feet high. The mounds they created can still be seen throughout the South.
Engineers Allison, Evans and Governor’s Chair Cicirello all spoke about the need to increase earthquake standards. Cicirello was particularly focused on the need to improve the quality of Arkansas’s school buildings: almost a quarter of a million children attend classes in buildings built of unreinforced masonry. Everyone on the panel agreed it was a moral and ethical imperative to protect the region’s children.
James Wilkinson showed an extraordinary knowledge of the danger facing the entire region, subscribing to the consensus that a seismic event is a “when” and not an “if.”
In the audience were state disaster and recover specialists, fire officials, journalists and television reporters.
It was a truly inspiring and engaging evening. When television reporters asked me if I was concerned about scaring folks with the “doom and gloom” message, I replied that I consider preparation and mitigation as the antidote to doom and gloom. It will happen, I argued: when it does, would the citizens of the South rather we be prepared or unprepared?
Every member of the panel, and fire officials in the audience, echoed a common theme. This was not just a problem for state, local, and federal officials. Every citizen of the South and Midwest must take precautions. They must store food, water, medical supplies, and be able to self-sustain for an extended period of time.
And they must participate in programs, organize their communities, and aid all these marvelous scientists and relief experts in saving their homes, families and communities.
We live in a marvelous country, I said, with all the gifts that one can ask for. But that comes with a price, and that price is eternal vigilance. I called complacency “the ultimate terrorist”, a theme I think I will repeat.
I admitted at the end of the two hour meeting that I felt a bit pretentious and uncomfortable at first, coming as a stranger into Little Rock, talking about disaster and telling people what to do about it. But I was welcomed with open arms and enthusiasm. There did not seem to be a single difference of opinion among the entire group. What I tried to do was carry the lessons that we in California had learned, and no more eager or open audience could have appeared at the inaugural event.
We are one country, one group united around a common cause. A small and determined group can accomplish much.
I thanked James Lee Witt and Admiral James Loy for welcoming me into ProtectingAmerica.org and allowing me to start on this remarkable journey and meet these extraordinary people.
I appeared on several Arkansas television stations, and was warmly received by everyone, and the efforts of ProtectingAmerica to help disseminate the message, were exemplary.
The message of mitigation and preparation is getting out. The efforts of James Lee Witt and James Loy are working. Now we are on to Memphis and Nashville, Evansville and St. Louis.
The City of Little Rock, my first stop along a six-city tour of the New Madrid Fault area, was hot, lovely and fascinating.
On Monday, July 17, a small but impassioned group of us met at the Pulaski Regional Center in downtown Little Rock in the opening salvo of my ProtectingAmerica.org tour.
They (pictured below) included Daniel Cicirello, Chair of the Governor’s Earthquake Council, Frank Allison, Structural Engineer with Engineering Consultants, Jeffrey Connelly, Department of Earth Sciences at UALR, Tony Evans, Maintenance Engineer with Dept. of Highways and Transportation, Scott Ausbrooks, Geologist with the Arkansas Geological Commission, Jim Wilkinson, Executive Director of the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium. Mr. Wilkinson is the chief earthquake preparedness voice for eight states in the Midwest and Midsouth, and drove from Memphis just to join us.
What was most surprising to me was the openness, urgency and candidness of the group. Geologists Ausbrooks and Connelly were very impassioned in their belief that greater studies had to be done in order to understand the very complex New Madrid Fault System.
The New Madrid Fault, they explained, is a different kind of fault from the infamous San Andreas in California, which caused the 1906 disaster. New Madrid is an “intraplate” fault, which means it is centered in the North American plate, and much harder to observe and measure than the great San Andreas.
In the winter of 1811, three major earthquakes struck the region, centered between Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. The first occurred on Dec. 16, the second on January 23, the third on Feb. 7. Each earthquake increased in intensity, until the granddaddy of the three exceeded the magnitude of the 1906 earthquake, likely registering a whopping 8.1 on the yet-to-be-invented Richter scale.
The earth shook for four months, and was felt as far as Washington D.C, Boston and Cuba. More than 1.5 million square miles of American soil felt the tremor, ten times the area set in motion by the 1906 earthquake. For a time, the Mississippi River ran backward. Sand “geysers” opened in the earth, shooting rocks, soil and debris into the sky, some of the fissures 100 feet in diameter, with columns of debris 100 feet high. The mounds they created can still be seen throughout the South.
Engineers Allison, Evans and Governor’s Chair Cicirello all spoke about the need to increase earthquake standards. Cicirello was particularly focused on the need to improve the quality of Arkansas’s school buildings: almost a quarter of a million children attend classes in buildings built of unreinforced masonry. Everyone on the panel agreed it was a moral and ethical imperative to protect the region’s children.
James Wilkinson showed an extraordinary knowledge of the danger facing the entire region, subscribing to the consensus that a seismic event is a “when” and not an “if.”
In the audience were state disaster and recover specialists, fire officials, journalists and television reporters.
It was a truly inspiring and engaging evening. When television reporters asked me if I was concerned about scaring folks with the “doom and gloom” message, I replied that I consider preparation and mitigation as the antidote to doom and gloom. It will happen, I argued: when it does, would the citizens of the South rather we be prepared or unprepared?
Every member of the panel, and fire officials in the audience, echoed a common theme. This was not just a problem for state, local, and federal officials. Every citizen of the South and Midwest must take precautions. They must store food, water, medical supplies, and be able to self-sustain for an extended period of time.
And they must participate in programs, organize their communities, and aid all these marvelous scientists and relief experts in saving their homes, families and communities.
We live in a marvelous country, I said, with all the gifts that one can ask for. But that comes with a price, and that price is eternal vigilance. I called complacency “the ultimate terrorist”, a theme I think I will repeat.
I admitted at the end of the two hour meeting that I felt a bit pretentious and uncomfortable at first, coming as a stranger into Little Rock, talking about disaster and telling people what to do about it. But I was welcomed with open arms and enthusiasm. There did not seem to be a single difference of opinion among the entire group. What I tried to do was carry the lessons that we in California had learned, and no more eager or open audience could have appeared at the inaugural event.
We are one country, one group united around a common cause. A small and determined group can accomplish much.
I thanked James Lee Witt and Admiral James Loy for welcoming me into ProtectingAmerica.org and allowing me to start on this remarkable journey and meet these extraordinary people.
I appeared on several Arkansas television stations, and was warmly received by everyone, and the efforts of ProtectingAmerica to help disseminate the message, were exemplary.
The message of mitigation and preparation is getting out. The efforts of James Lee Witt and James Loy are working. Now we are on to Memphis and Nashville, Evansville and St. Louis.
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